Humans are only one of the dangerous things on Rook Island, and particularly on the North Island, they aren’t anywhere near the top of the food chain. Any time you’re in the wilderness, you run a strong chance of running into some of the island’s animal population, which can mean anything from peaceful coexistence to a brief and deadly fight.
You don’t receive any EXP for killing an animal, but their skins and hides are used to create the containers and slings you need to upgrade your carrying capacity. As such, you’re going to need to hunt down at least a few animals. Late in the game, after you’ve crafted all of the available upgrades, you can hunt and skin animals as an additional source of income, as most of their hides can be sold to vendors for a very reasonable price.
When hunting, it’s useful to carry silenced, high-caliber weapons, such as the M-700. Animals are just as vulnerable to headshots as humans are, and using a suppressed rifle means you won’t get any attention from any hostile pirates or mercenaries in the area.
You also should not hesitate to use grenades, land mines, or even C4 against animals; to kill one that you find caged by Vaas’s men; or to run them over in a vehicle if given the option. You don’t need to worry how these animals will look when you mount them in your den, and you get no bonus points for fighting fair.
Once you have the ability to carry more than three syringes, always have a dose of Animal Repellent on you. While it doesn’t work underwater for what are no doubt highly scientific reasons, injecting Animal Repellent gets even a wounded, hostile land animal to break off contact and let you escape. Its base duration is only 40 seconds, so do not linger in the area.
Macaques, crows, vultures, seagulls, birds of paradise, manta rays, and Galapagos tortoises can all be found and slain at various places on the island. At best, you can get some vendor trash for “skinning” them, such as feathers or a shell, and hunting them simply involves sneaking up on one. The only reason to hunt any of these creatures is to unlock their unique entries in the Handbook’s Survival Guide, which is written in Willis’s unique style. Once you get a total of 50 entries, it unlocks the Jungle Journal Achievement/Trophy.
As a final word, large or predatory animals are just as likely to attack Vaas’s men, Hoyt’s privateers, or the Rakyat as they are to attack you. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find random wilderness encounters where some of Vaas’s pirates have attempted to capture a large cat and have made a mess of it. There are ways in which you can easily exploit this if you’re clever, such as leading a tiger or bear into an enemy camp, then popping Animal Repellent and running into the bushes. This is a very difficult maneuver to pull off without getting killed, but if you can do it, it is hilarious.
Asian Black Bear
Bears are arguably the most dangerous predator on the island, and they’ve long since learned to get in the first shot. The closer you get to a bear, the angrier it gets, until it rears up on its hind legs and charges. At that point, it runs faster than you can sprint and you are in serious trouble. Listen carefully for its growls and if you see it stand up, run like hell. Do not stand there and think you can get it to break off its charge by shooting it, as that is not going to happen.
Bears are tough, to the point where you are physically incapable of carrying enough ammunition to kill one at the start of the game. A single bear can absorb enough punishment that it can single-handedly wipe out an outpost’s worth of armed mercenaries, which means for any outpost in the game where they’ve got a bear in a cage, your strategy immediately defaults to “free the bear.” Hopefully, they’ll either kill it or weaken it significantly before you’re forced to deal with it yourself.
If you are deliberately hunting a bear, there is absolutely no reason to use conventional weapons. Pack an RPG-7 or grenade launcher, and if you have the chance, lay down some mines or C4 charges along your planned escape route. Bears are as close as this game gets to a tank, and should be treated as such. A single RPG round is enough to kill one.
Bird of Paradise
Birds of paradise are found throughout the island. Many are kept as pets by locals as a sign of affluence. Some of the more colorful breeds are prized by collectors all around the world while the less colorful ones are used as mops, feather dusters and organic French ticklers.
Black Eagle
The black eagle is revered by the Rakyat. That doesn’t mean it can’t be hunted. Just be respectful about it, maybe.
Black Panther
The rare black panther that roams the island is said to be darker than night.
Blood Komodo
One of the most disturbing creatures on Rook Island is a komodo dragon with a strange defect that causes its saliva to run red like blood.
Boar
If a boar decides to fight you, which usually happens if you stand around near one for too long, it can be a problem. Its standard attack is a short charge that knocks you down, which lets it follow up by goring you with its tusks. It can inflict a lot of damage in that time, so you’ll want to strafe out of the way and retaliate with a couple of shotgun blasts. Fortunately, most boars on the island are reasonably calm and can be avoided or slain with little difficulty.
Buffalo
Most of the time, buffaloes can be found in herds and are content to ignore you. They scatter if they hear gunfire. When hunting one, make sure your first hit does as much damage as possible, from a sniper headshot or a close-range shotgun blast, then be ready to chase it down. Nothing short of a clean RPG hit can kill a buffalo in one shot, and they can even shrug off being hit at high speeds with a vehicle.
Rarely, you can find an aggressive buffalo that attacks you on sight. They move much faster than you’d expect, and while they’re easy to dodge, they knock you backward and down on contact. This gives them time to set up for another charge, which can be lethal. You can tell if a buffalo is about to charge you, as it lowers its head and starts scraping the ground with its left front hoof.
Bull Shark
The presence of bull sharks is why it’s a bad idea to go swimming off the coast of the island. They’re quite common, they’re immune to the effects of the Animal Repellent syringe, and they attack you on sight. If one sees you, it can latch onto you as part of a quick-time event that, if you successfully complete, ends when you stab it in the brain. This lets you skin them in relative peace, assuming you survived the process.
Assuming that you do not feel like using your own legs as shark bait (and you don’t), a much safer method of shark hunting is to take one of the larger boats out into the water and shoot at sharks from the relative safety of its deck. It’s a good idea to wait until you’ve got the Zoology 101 skill before you do this, just to maximize your gains.
Another good place for shark hunting is on the shallow sandbars on the southeast side of the North Island. The water is deep enough near the sandbars that sharks often swim by at a close enough range that you can pick one apart with rifle fire.
Cassowary
Nobody seems to have bothered to tell a cassowary that it’s not dangerous. You may think it’s funny when a tiny ostrich with an attitude problem rolls up on you, but then it’s going to try to peck your eyes out. Fortunately, cassowaries have very low health.
Crocodile
Aside from a handful that appear during story or side missions, you could easily go for the entire game without seeing a crocodile. They lurk in rivers and lakes throughout the island, floating silently until prey gets close. In other words, that’s probably not a log, and unless it’s glowing like it’s loot, it’s not dead.
If you spot it early, you can easily take a crocodile out before you get anywhere near it by shooting into the water from dry land. If one gets a hold of you, it begins a quick-time event that ends when it either kills you or you stab it in the head, killing it.
Unlike the other animals on and around Rook Island, crocodile leather is not used for any crafting recipe and can safely be sold for profit.
Deer
As you might expect, deer roam the island in easily spooked herds. They do not attack, but flee into the underbrush the moment they realize you or anything else is there. It is very difficult to find deer that are not already spooked by something.
The easiest way to deal with them is to creep up on their herd through the foliage and put a silenced rifle round into one of their heads from a reasonable distance. Otherwise, you tend to have to chase one for a long distance before you can get a successful kill.
Dingo
In practice, a dingo is largely indistinguishable from a rabid dog. They’re slightly smarter and have a much greater sense of self-preservation, which means it’s easier to get away from them without a fight. They also move in larger packs, which can be a serious problem. If you’re in a fight with a pack of them, get to the nearest open, flat area—ideally a road, as that gives you the clearest visibility. They’re already tough to hit, so don’t let them hide in the foliage.
It is very likely that you will get more than enough dingo hides for crafting purposes as a side-effect of exploring the island. They’re very common in the jungles north of Citra’s temple.
Dog
There are two kinds of dogs. One is the trained guard dog that is often found alongside the pirates or mercenaries you’re fighting, most commonly on patrol in outposts. The other is found wild and rabid in the countryside, hunting goats or deer in packs.
In either case, they’re fast but don’t take much to bring down, and it’s often easier to take one out with a knife than to try and shoot it. Wild dogs are also more bark than bite, and often give up very easily if you simply move away from their location.
Galapagos Tortoise
The Galapagos tortoise is one of the largest species of tortoise in the world, basically a big, semi-stationary, stumpy creature.
Goat
Like deer, goats are calm and tend to run at the first sight of trouble. They also don’t tend to make a sound unless they’re already frightened, which can make it tricky to hunt for them. If you startle a goat, your best bet is to tag it before it runs away, then give it a couple of minutes to settle down. You’ll usually find it standing still some distance away, which makes it much easier to kill and skin.
Great White Shark
The great white shark may be nature’s alpha predator, but it doesn’t have much of a taste for man. That’s the official line, but the people of Rook Island have seen evidence to the contrary.
Komodo Dragons
Individually, a Komodo dragon isn’t much of a threat, although it’s aggressive and much faster than it looks. The problem is that they can take a bit of punishment and they almost always show up in packs of three to five. Once you’re surrounded, they can tear you to shreds in a hurry. When in doubt, assume there are at least two Komodo dragons that you do not see yet.
Leopard
The leopard is a solid #3 on the list of most dangerous enemies in the game. They’re fast, they move erratically, and if they latch onto you, they can trigger a quick-time event that may end in an instant kill. Fortunately, they have much less health than tigers, to the point where you can kill a leopard from range with a single well-placed rifle round, and you may even be able to take one out with an assault rifle if you’re lucky. Just the same, they’re worth taking seriously.
Macaque
Macaques are kept as pets in Amanaki Village, where your weapons are automatically holstered. If you want to hunt one down to unlock its Handbook entry, or because you have something against cute monkeys, you can find two of them roaming the ruins during the “Down in the Docks” story mission.
ManEater
Rook Island fisherman speak of a bull shark with a taste for human flesh. None who set out to catch it were seen again, but one man did manage to get a hook into the monster’s mouth before being slowly devoured. He probably should have stayed in bed that day.
Manta Ray
Manta rays are like eagles of the ocean. They soar through the waters with power and grace. They’re strong. And they’re always on the go.
Moray Eel
Moray eels are another reason to be wary in the waters around Rook Island. These large creatures will try to eat anything that they can catch, including human arms and legs. They have a second set of jaws which launch forward into their mouths, pulling prey down their throats.
Pig
These are your standard-issue pot-bellied pig. Like goats or deer, they’re easily frightened and spend most of their time getting harassed by predatory dogs or Komodo dragons. Also, like goats or deer, your best bet is to take them out one at a time with a rifle, then let the rest of the herd escape.
Red-Headed Vulture
The red-headed vultures on Rook Island mostly come from Singapore and are harmless.
Sea Turtle
Locals hunt sea turtles for food and consider their eggs a delicacy. Too bad you’re not here for a culinary tour.
Snake
Even at the start of the game, snakes aren’t that dangerous. A bite from a snake only does a little bit of damage, and one bullet or knife slash is enough to kill one. They can be hard to spot, but they make a disproportionate amount of noise. Snakes cannot be skinned.
Tapir
These poor little guys don’t really have much going for them. Like pigs or deer, they tend to scatter once they realize they’re in danger, but it takes them longer to realize that than most of the other animals on the island.
Tiger
Bears are a little more dangerous than tigers, but not by much. Tigers roam the island in unpredictable patterns and can show up almost anywhere, where they’re likely to attack on sight. They’re faster than you are and once they’re on top of you, it’s difficult to get away. Early in the game, if you see a tiger coming, your best bet is to ambush it with a few land mines. Fortunately, once you have some of the better weapons, tigers aren’t as scary and can be taken down with rifle fire. A single shot from the Bull can kill a tiger.
